Bengals rookie Ja’Marr Chase has weak excuse for preseason struggles

It was a frustrating preseason for Cincinnati Bengals rookie Ja’Marr Chase, who had a difficult time holding onto the football. Through three preseason games, the rookie out of LSU hauled in just one pass while dropping the others thrown his direction.

The second preseason game was particularly hard to watch, as Chase dropped all three balls sent his way. He was clearly frustrated when he jogged off the field in what ended as a loss to the Washington Football Team.

Chase recently spoke to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com on why he’s been struggling with drops and had a bizarre excuse.

"“The ball is different because it is bigger. It doesn’t have the white stripes on the side so you can’t see the ball coming from the tip point so you actually have to look for the strings on the ball at the top, which is hard to see because whole ball is brown and you have the six strings that are white. But for the most part, just have to get used to it and find out what I am comfortable with catching.”"

So, let me get this straight — Chase is blaming his issues on the football itself?

Every rookie receiver has to make these same adjustments every year and while some do struggle, we’ve seen more than enough go on to do great things as rookies. Fellow LSU product Justin Jefferson didn’t seem to have this problem for Minnesota when he went for over 1,400 yards a season ago.

Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase blames the ball for his struggles.

Bengals fans are already anxious about Chase and his issues this preseason but a comment like this doesn’t really help. Everyone has to get used to the differences in the pros and Chase is no different.

While I don’t think Bengals fans should worry about Chase in the long-term, this “excuse” is lame. Let’s hope he figures out how to handle it quickly though because fans certainly don’t want another John Ross in Cincinnati.